Their knees get weak and they sometimes need help to stand. Welling emotions and tears make it difficult for them to express their grief, even if they are reading words from a piece of paper.

Often, their anger erupts.

Over the last 30 years, few things have done more to alter courtroom decorum than the introduction of the victim impact statement, a chance for crime victims or survivors to tell of their pain, anger, emptiness and loss. It has transformed the nature of sentencings, giving victims the chance to be heard in a legal system built toward protecting the rights of defendants from being wrongly convicted.

The statements can introduce a measure of unpredictability into the courtroom. At times, defendants will lash out, forcing court officers to step in to end shouting matches with relatives of victims.

Judges often have to intervene, telling speakers they are out of bounds and to direct their comments to the judge.

Victims are stopped from talking about crimes for which a defendant was not convicted. At times, speakers have been reprimanded for demanding that the defendant look at them.

"What impact does it have on anyone if they tell a defendant to 'rot in hell?' " asked former Rensselaer County Judge Robert Jacon, who retired in 2012 after six years on the bench. "I don't know how many times I had to say, 'Excuse me, but you need to address your comments to me.' I mean, it's not a bar room, it's a courtroom."

One longtime local prosecutor said the practice is healthy for victims and even for defendants, if the speakers are properly advised.

"You have to work with the victims and always remind them to direct their comments to the judge and not to the defendant," said Robert Carney, the Schenectady County district attorney for 25 years. "It is when they lapse into focusing on the defendant that can cause problems. Overall, though, it gives them their one opportunity to be a part of the process and I've seen sometimes what victims say can cause a defendant to be more remorseful when they speak."

The practice began locally 30 years ago in an Albany County courtroom, where Betty Martin was determined that the court would not forget about her daughter, Michele Martin, during the sentencing of the man who killed the 20-year-old woman in a drunken driving crash on Route 85 in Albany.

Two years later, with the encouragement of Remove Intoxicated Drivers founder Doris Aiken and the support of Judge Joseph Harris and Chief Assistant District Attorney Dan Dwyer, Martin composed a written victim impact statement.

Harris read the letter from the bench before he sentenced George Donnelly to 15 years in prison for manslaughter.

"It had never been done before and I wrote it directly to the judge, which was suggested at the time by people who helped me," said Martin of Delmar, who worked for years to get victims, particularly in DWI cases, involved in prosecutions. "I was outraged at the time that victims had no say in prosecutions. I had no idea what the outcome would be."

In 1992, criminal procedure law was amended by the state Legislature, and signed into law by Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, to allow victims to deliver statements at sentencings.

Today, the statements are meant to influence sentences by portraying for the judge the kind of person the victim was. The statements often are read by the victims and their families, sometimes with several different people delivering remarks.

"I think it has become somewhat unreasonable at times," Martin said. "My intention was not to be angry, but to let people know there was a human being involved here and it was not just case number 465."

"I hope that every time you close your eyes all you see is the grotesque way that you left my son," Furlani's mother told Paul. A grim-faced Paul listened as her defense attorney, Frederick Rench, tried to console and distract her.

But when the mother ended by saying, "Shame on you, Joey," Paul shouted "You didn't give a (expletive) about your son!"

Furlani's sister then jumped up and yelled at Paul, who fired back with an expletive as deputies escorted her into another room before sentencing resumed.

"Victim impact statements should not be an opportunity to abuse a defendant publicly," Rench said. "I think in such cases, the defendant should be allowed the option to leave the courtroom while the person reads their remarks."

"The victim impact statement is truly the only time throughout the process that a victim with their own voice can tell the court, the people, and most importantly, the defendant about the impact of being a crime victim and what it has meant to them and their family," Albany County District Attorney David Soares said in a statement released by his office.

"To suggest that they be deprived or limited in those opportunities not only denies a victim of their fundamental rights, but it also undermines a crucial part of their journey towards healing."

In December, Dennis Drue was sentenced for an alcohol-related Northway crash that killed two high school students and seriously injured two others. Six people were allowed to deliver statements. Most of the remarks were directed at Drue, but the criticism extended to Saratoga County Judge Jerry Scarano. Many felt that Drue's 5-to-15 year sentence was too light.

"It was obvious the victims were devastated, that they were in emotional and spiritual pain and that their losses were horrific," said Albany defense attorney Terence Kindlon, who was not part of the case. "In my opinion, though, it is a grave abuse of discretion for a court to stand by and allow victims to engage in a lot of anguished name-calling and hurl insults at the defendant. It accomplishes nothing other than to make an already difficult and tragic situation worse."

Saratoga County First Assistant District Attorney Karen Heggen believes that the statements help victims.

"It completes the process for them," said Heggen, a prosecutor in that county for 21 years. She did not handle the Paul or Drue cases but witnessed the sentencings. "It is the only time in the whole criminal justice process that the victims are allowed to speak. It gives them closure."

Inflammatory statements can and have led to physical violence in court.

In January 2000, Antonio Powell was sentenced to life for the murder of 18-year-old Francisco Rosa in Schenectady. The victim's father, Pedro Rosa, a correction officer at New York City's Riker's Island jail, went to court every day in his uniform.

"He should hang himself," Rosa said in his impact statement. "I've seen many inmates do it and I'll teach him myself. Powell should be very careful and do exactly what the guards tell him because we are a group that helps one another and you should be watching your back at all times inside.''

The statement hit a nerve with Powell. On his way out of the courtroom, he taunted Rosa with profanity and an ethnic slur.

Rosa jumped over a rail, nearly getting his hands on Powell before three court guards and Rosa's cousin subdued him.